Check This Out: Project M Demo 2.0

Smash Brothers fans can agree that Brawl was a good game, but not a good Super Smash game. Luckily, there's a dedicated group of individuals out there who aim to fix that. Enter the Smashmods community. These groups of modders have fixed up Brawl in a variety of flavors, free of charge. There's something for everyone depending on the amount of disappointment you hold towards the game. The best part? You don't even have to mod your console or void any warranties. It's free, easy, and legal to have the sequel to Melee you've always wanted. Of these mods, the biggest revamp comes in the form of Project M. Project M overhauls the gameplay almost completely. As the name would imply, Project M aims to make Brawl into Melee 2.0. I have to say that, for the most part, it absolutely succeeds. When you boot up the mod, you'll see that all the menus have received a custom makeover, stages have been swapped, and only 29 characters are available. Now, these 29 characters aren't indicative of the final roster (all the characters) but they are the furthest along in their revisions.

Characters from Melee have been restored to play like they used to. Captain Falcon, Fox, Marth, Link, and others play more like their Melee counterparts. Some, like Zelda, have had their attacks tweaked. Before you rage, know that these changes were made to balance the game and, in fact, there are many buffs. Additionally, all the crazy techniques like wave dashing have made it back in, which I'm sure will please the diehards and pros. For me, though, the increased gameplay speed and character tweaking is more than enough. When I saw they had fully restored Ganondorf's animations so he no longer ran like an idiot I was sold. Perhaps the most interesting part of the mod involves the tweaks to Brawl newcomers. The team had to envision what the characters would have played like had they been in Melee. I think these changes are great as a whole, with some characters getting more of a makeover than others. Here are some of the more obvious character changes: 

Lucas: He no longer has PK freeze in its old form. Instead he has a charge up move that buffs his smash attacks when fully charged. Replacing his PK fire is a variation on PK freeze which shoots ice but does not freeze. 

Wario: The bike is no more. Replacing it is a Wario Land shoulder bash. Just like in the games, Wario can jump when in the middle of it and the bash will do more damage the later it connects. His down smash is now a ground slam that lightly launches enemies, and his down air is a powerful butt stomp. Wario's chomp no longer holds opponents forever like it used to, but he has the ability to chomp and spit enemies backwards.

Pit: Pit has received extensive changes and his ridiculous recover has been completely scrapped. In its place is an upward shield bash that really cannot recover at all. His forward B is no longer "HIIIYAAAYAAAYAAAHHH!" but is instead a simple glide that Pit can attack out of.

Lucario: Although not bad in Brawl, Lucario has been completely made over for Project M. He's now more of a fighter, gaining the ability to combo and chain attacks. This is very important for his new aura ability. Instead rewarding the player for sucking by increasing Lucario's strength with damage, Lucario now gains the ability to launch super powered attacks when he's dealt enough continuous damage to foes.



In addition to character changes, Project M brings new and classic stages to the mix, like Fourside from Melee, Saffron City from Smash 64, and an all new Castlevania stage! You can download an install Project M without modding your Wii, simply download the Hackless Wii Zip, delete any custom stages, then boot up Brawl and enter the custom stage builder. The mod will launch on its own. If it looks like your Wii is breaking, don't freak out! It's supposed to do that! Once you reach a screen that says "Gecko OS" hit "launch" after the text scrolls by. Your Wii will be just fine!